GENESEO, N.Y. - The State University of New York at Geneseo has broken ground on a new 2,000-seat lighted athletic stadium, scheduled for completion in 2014.

The new facility will comprise two fields and support men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, women's field hockey and intramural programs. It also will be a venue for other campus events, including future Geneseo commencement ceremonies.

"I can't recall a more exciting time at Geneseo," said Geneseo athletic director Mike Mooney. "This stadium is the last piece of the puzzle in our effort to produce a great athletic program. It will allow us to even the playing field in attracting top student-athletes as well as all prospective students considering Geneseo."

The new stadium will be constructed on the site of the existing Holcomb Building (the former campus elementary school) at the intersection of Route 63 and Park Street. Holcomb will be razed to accommodate the stadium, which will have synthetic turf fields and include a scoreboard, press box building, pavilion, team rooms and a spectator support building.

"This is an important milestone for our campus and my anticipation will soon turn to the day our Blue Knights take to the field for the first time in their new home," said Christopher C. Dahl, president of SUNY Geneseo. "Athletics offer a glimpse into our values, principles and priorities that define Geneseo and what we mean by ‘student athlete.'"

Dan Loughran, a 1986 Geneseo graduate and chair of the Roundtable Athletic Association, praised the commitment and dedication of those who supported the vision for the stadium.

"This occasion truly marks the start of a new era in the history of the Blue Knights athletic program," said Loughran. "It signals the beginning of yet another exciting transformation of the Geneseo campus."

Loughran thanked the core group of donors who funded the initial stadium study in 2006 to keep the project on track.

Also involved in the groundbreaking were Robert Bonfiglio, SUNY Geneseo's vice president for student and campus life; Dan Strang, distinguished service professor of economics and NCAA faculty athletics representative; Frank Vafier, a 1974 Geneseo graduate and Geneseo Foundation board member who currently chairs Shaping Lives of Purpose: The Campaign for Geneseo; Carly Annable, incoming president of the Geneseo Student Association; Tom Judson, chairman and CEO of The Pike Co., construction partner; and Ed O'Hara, landscape architect with Clough Harbor and Associates, stadium architect.